


Baby Steps

by Valleygirl285



Category: Roswell (TV 1999)
Genre: F/M, Teen Romance, Understanding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-26
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-12 00:13:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29001264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Valleygirl285/pseuds/Valleygirl285
Summary: Season one episode tag to bridge what happened after Michael leaves The Crashdown after talking to Max and Isabel in Blood Brother to what leads him to going to Maria in Heat Wave.
Relationships: Maria DeLuca/Michael Guerin
Kudos: 2





	Baby Steps

Baby Steps

Author: Valley Girl

Characters: Maria/Michael

Chapter 1 of 1

_MICHAEL: Stick a fork in us, Maxwell. We're done._

Michael got up and headed for the door of the dinner. Glancing over his shoulder, he scowled at the brunette who was the cause of all his problems. He was going to end up on a slab in a lab somewhere because of Max's fascination with Parker.

He stopped for a brief second when he heard that Maria girl's voice, "oh and I just barely made it home from our little trip to give my Mom the car. She's off to Colorado for three days for that buying trip. So lucky me I get to walk everywhere, including home tonight after I close."

Michael blocked out Parker's response and walked out the door. Was she insane? Was she in the same room as him when they called that number and heard Topolsky's voice. 'I get to walk everywhere, including home tonight after I close' echoed through his mind.

He was surrounded by amateurs. Didn't they know they were in danger? Shaking his head, he went home to catch a few hours' sleep. Somebody had to watch their backs and take care of things; they sure couldn't count on Max to do it.

Maria hummed as she walked into the backroom and made her way over to her locker. Swinging the metal door open, she began to strip out of her uniform to change back into her jeans and sweater. She was just stepping out of her dress when suddenly the store room door opened and a certain spiky haired alien entered the room.

"Ahhhhhh!" Maria screamed as she stood frozen in shock.

The smirk that was usually on Michael's face disappeared briefly when he saw the small blond standing before him wearing nothing but a lacy red thong and matching bra.

Recovering from the surprise at catching her changing, he rolled his eyes. "Like you have anything worth looking at."

Blinking, she finally registered what he was implying and quickly reached down and grabbed the discarded uniform and held it in front of herself. "What the hell are you doing here?" she asked as she stretched her arm out and signaled for him to turn around.

Turning, he allowed a small smile to grace his face. "My job."

Maria huffed as she wiggled into her jeans. "Well I appreciate the fact you are striving towards being gainfully employed but I don't think being the local Peeping Tom pays well." She finished zipping up her jeans and grabbed her sweater and pulled it quickly over her head. "Alright you can turn around."

Michael cocked an eyebrow at her. "If that was the case, I would find somebody who had something worth peeping."

Blushing, Maria fought the urge to cross her arms over her breasts, she had always been self-conscious of her breasts, or lack of them, but she'd be damned if she were going to let spiky know that. Slamming her locker shut, Maria glared at the brooding alien. "Look buddy, I don't need your crap tonight. Go intimidate somebody who cares. There's a lavender bath waiting for me at home."

Michael groaned at the image that popped into his head of a wet and naked Maria. Quickly he marched over and got in her face. "Wrong, I'm following you home to make sure you don't get picked up by whoever the hell is following us and rat us out."

Maria's mouth dropped open. "You came back here to walk me home?"

"Follow-walk, I'm just making sure you don't end up turning me over for the next alien autopsy."

"God you are impossible!" Maria shouted as she stormed past him and started for the door. She was halfway down the alley before she stopped and spun around, bumping smack dab into her shadow. "If you are going to insist on escorting me home, you can at least do it like a normal human guy and walk with me," she announced in annoyance, pissed off that she was actually excited to be alone with him.

"Fine," he huffed as they both turned and exited the alley. They were a block away when he leaned down and whispered in her ear. "Behind us, the guy from the motel is following us."

Maria breath became shallow at the thought they were really being followed. Maybe she should be grateful he came back for her, nobody else had given her a second thought. She was getting ready to ask him what they should do but as she opened her mouth she felt his lips crushing against hers.

She moaned as Michael took advantage of her lips being parted and slid his tongue inside to caress hers. Instinctively, she wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned into him a little more as his hands kneaded her hips before pulling her closer. She was gasping for air when they finally pulled apart.

She shivered as Michael trailed a line of kisses along her collarbone towards her ear and whispered, "We're going to have to make believe we're together."

"Ok," she purred.

Michael pulled back and gazed into Maria's eyes, "We should keep moving but we should stop again in a little bit to kiss again."

"Well it is our cover story," Maria agreed with a smile.

Maria couldn't believe she was lying on her couch with Michael on top of her and that she had let him go to second base and was now getting ready to let him slide into third any second. She had never made out with any guy like this before. God a twenty minute walk took them an hour because they'd stopped four times to keep up with their cover story and forced themselves to make out for their little friend following them.

"Michael-Michael stop," she panted.

Michael pulled back. "What, am I crushing you?" he asked, wondering why the hell she was telling him to stop now when things were just getting interesting.

"No, it's not that," she said as she gently pushed him off of her so she could sit up, "it's just why are we doing this? I mean before we had to but nobody can see us in here."

Michael shrugged his shoulders, trying to look indifferent even though his heart was beating a mile a minute. "Personally, I had nothing better to do, the hockey game won't be on for another hour."

"Thanks a lot," Maria whispered dejectedly as she got up from the couch and headed into the kitchen, she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of seeing her trying to keep it together.

Michael watched her walk out of the room. His heart felt like there was a vice around it and each of her steps felt like another twist, tightening to the point that he could barely breath. Getting up, he followed her into the kitchen and observed as she made herself a cup of tea.

Not giving her a chance to tell him to leave, he quickly approached her and spun her around, lowering his mouth to hers. He would kiss her and make her not think about what was happening and just let it happen. Well that was his plan until he found himself doubled over, clutching his stomach where she had just punched him.

"You may think you're better than me because of where you come from." Maria made a fist and pointed upwards with her thumb. "But that doesn't mean you can kiss me or make excuses to kiss me and then talk to me like that. Get out!" she shouted as she pointed to the door.

Michael straightened up and narrowed his eyes at her. "Like I would need to make up an excuse to kiss you anymore than those losers you go into the eraser room with."

"Get out," Maria said weakly as she swallowed her hurt and embarrassment. Did he think she was easy? Is that why he kissed her because he figured she did it with anyone? A hot blush tainted her cheeks at the implication and unshed tears blurred her vision as she whispered her order one last time, "Get out."

Michael didn't look back once as he stormed out the door. That's the way it should be, there wasn't anything between them and there never would be. He didn't need her. She meant nothing to him. She was just somebody warm and soft who let him touch her. So what, he didn't need her or her caresses. Those tears in her eyes were just an act too. Besides, he had nothing to feel guilty about, it was the truth. He knew she'd clocked a few hours in the eraser room, he had to listen to a few of the jerks she'd had been with.

A small smile tugged at his lips when he realized that those other guys had all complained how she never let them go any further than first base where she had let him get to second and if she hadn't stopped him he would have been sliding into third at that very second.

Michael kicked a can out of his way as he walked up to the metal steps of the trailer he called home. His stomach lurched as the odor of stale beer and cigarettes penetrated his nose. Michael's head turned in the direction of load snoring coming from a passed out Hank and walked passed him and went into his room, flopping on top of his dingy mattress. Taking a deep breath, he looked around at his surroundings. Nope, he didn't need somebody like Maria Deluca, he was doing just fine on his own.

Maria looked in the mirror one last time and checked her antennas. Today had been interesting in more ways than one. First Michael actually showed up for classes, Alex exposed Topolsky as an FBI agent and now Roswell was being hit with a freaky heat wave.

Walking out into the dining room of The Crashdown she knew she had officially wandered into The Twilight Zone. There was Michael, Max and Isabel sitting in their usual booth which wasn't really strange but the person slamming his fist down on the table was.

"You little bastard, now I know why you're never home to make a damn thing for supper. You fill your face here," Hank shouted, his speech slurred from drinking.

Maria watched in shocked as Michael stood up tall and towered over the drunken man. Shoving him aside, he ignored Max and Isabel calls to wait up as he walked out the door of the diner. Maria cringed when Hank leered at Isabel and called her cupcake and warned the twins to make sure that 'worthless bastard' didn't show his face if he knew what was good for him before staggering out of the restaurant.

She didn't even get a chance to speak to the aliens before they took off, looking for Michael. Michael, her heart ached for him. She now understood a little why he acted the way he did last night. God she couldn't believe Michael was living with that drunk.

Sighing, she had no choice but to work, as much as she would love to go and find him, she knew that it wouldn't matter. She knew Michael wouldn't let somebody go to him, she knew that Max and Isabel wouldn't get anywhere with him. He was too proud for that; he would brush off what happened as not mattering but she saw his face when he had walked passed her and for a split second their eyes had locked and for that brief second he let her in. No, she wouldn't go looking for him but she wasn't going to turn him away if he came to her.

Michael stormed down the sidewalk. He could hear Max and Isabel calling to him but he ignored them, he didn't want their pity. He had enough of that to last him a lifetime. Screw it, he wasn't some pathetic loser who needed people to feel sorry for him.

He hated himself for caring that Hank had wandered into The Crashdown and had caused a scene. He didn't like being the center of attention in anyway but to have that pig Hank shouting at him not only in front of Max and Isabel but in front of Maria too was too much for him to handle.

Maria, he had seen her when he got up to leave. Where his own brother and sister looked at him with pity, Maria looked at him in understanding. The daughter of the town hippie, who father walked out of them had made her the topic of town gossip for years, knew all too well what it was like to have people stare at you for something you had no control over.

Michael snorted mockingly, his own brother and sister had never understood him, yet this little blond, bubbly earth girl in a few short weeks had connected with him and it scared the crap out of him as he realized that it wasn't a matter of him not needing her but him not wanting to need her.

No, he would stay away from her. He would fight the urges he had to be near her. To touch her, to kiss her and to hold her. It only made him weak and now wasn't the time for him to be off his game. The F.B.I. is watching them, it wasn't a game and it wasn't romantic. It was real and it was dangerous. No, he would fight this desire to go to her.

Michael spent most of the day and night walking around town. He finally stopped when a flashing sign from across the street caught his attention – The Crashdown. Where his mind was telling him to stay away from Maria, his feet had brought him to her. His breathing became ragged as he started to cross the street. He didn't want to do this but he couldn't control it and he hated himself for it but it didn't change what he was about to do.

Maria stopped sweeping the floor so she could wipe her forehead, she couldn't believe how hot is was. Night wasn't even offering a break from the heat. Slowly she began to resume her sweeping duty.

She could sense his eyes on her and gazed towards the door. She swallowed as they stared at each other and she tentatively made her way over to him, never breaking eye contact. Taking a deep breath she reached up and unlocked the door. She wasn't sure if it was the smartest decision she had ever made but it was the one that felt right to her. He needed her and she needed him, maybe they weren't ready to say it out loud but she knew it in her heart.

Her heart raced as she watched him reach down and wrap his hand around the door handle. It wasn't a great declaration of love but it was a step, maybe just a baby step but she knew it was the first step to the most amazing journey of her life.

Maria's eyes began to flutter close as Michael cupped her check gently before lowering his mouth to hers. No words were spoken no words were needed. Not now, now was just about the moment. Getting lost within each other, the rest they would figure out later.

The End


End file.
